Nutter Engaging in Unfriendly Wagers With Tampa Mayor
October 21, 2008 –
With the Phillies preparing to play the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2008 World Series, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter yesterday announced a round of unfriendly wagers with Tampa Mayor Pam Lorio. “When there’s a World Series or a Super Bowl, the two cities’ mayors always have their little city-related bets,” Nutter said at a late-afternoon news conference. “But Pam and I have agreed that her having to eat a cheesesteak, or me having to drink a mojito, just isn’t going to cut it this year.”
 Nutter spokesman Doug Oliver revealed a few of the potentially lethal wagers. “If the Phillies win, Lorio must walk through North Philly, at 2 a.m., carrying a Gucci bag full of diamonds,” he said. “If the Rays win, Mayor Nutter must swim from Tampa to St. Petersburg with a 100-lb. weight strapped to his back.” But, Oliver added, the dangerous bets wouldn’t end there. “Provided he or she survives, the losing mayor will then be tied to a chair and locked in a room full of small alligators or starving subway rats—again, with the type of animal depending on who wins,” he said. “All in good fun.”
Despite the terrifying stakes, Lorio was looking forward to the series. “The Rays have been great for Tampa-St. Pete, and I really do think they’ll win it all,” she said by telephone. “And you know what that means—Mayor Nutter, with no food or water, paddling to Cuba on a rickety wooden raft.” Nutter, too, was eager to get on with it. “With the Phillies’ pitching and lineup, they can’t lose—and neither can I,” he said. “I look forward to watching Ms. Lorio drinking five gallons of untreated Schuylkill runoff.”
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